Third baseman Evan Longoria has played only six major-league games, but the Tampa Bay Rays are on the verge of signing him long-term, according to major-league sources.

The details of the contract are not yet known, but it is believed that the deal will be for six years in the $17 million range with option scenarios that will enable the Rays to buy out two years of Longoria's free agency.

The contract, to be announced at 1 p.m. ET, also is expected to include escalators that will enable Longoria to add to his guaranteed money if he develops into a major star.

Longoria, the third overall pick in the 2006 draft, has batted .300 with one home run and three RBIs. The Rays are treating him almost like a high NFL or NBA draft pick, paying him before he is an accomplished player.

The Rays sent Longoria to Class AAA at the start of the season even though he was widely considered to be major-league ready. At that time, some in baseball thought the Rays wanted to keep him in the minors for a set period of time so they could keep him for an extra season before he became a free agent. The Rays, however, dismissed such talk, saying that they ultimately would seek to sign Longoria long-term.

Longoria, 22, is represented by Paul Cohen, who in January negotiated a six-year, $31 million contract for Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, the largest deal ever given to a player with less than two years of major-league service.

Well 17M is potentially a monster bargain. Yes they could end up getting nothing out of it, but Longoria does look like an awfully good bet. It's an interesting risk, and I think the dollar terms are low enough to make this worth doing for the Rays. They don't have many other ways of keeping star talent around.

OnBaseMachine

04-18-2008, 01:05 PM

Well 17M is potentially a monster bargain. Yes they could end up getting nothing out of it, but Longoria does look like an awfully good bet. It's an interesting risk, and I think the dollar terms are low enough to make this worth doing for the Rays. They don't have many other ways of keeping star talent around.

Agreed. This is a pretty good move for the Rays. It's something I wouldn't seeing the Reds do with Jay Bruce after he spends a year or so in the majors.

BRM

04-18-2008, 01:09 PM

Agreed. This is a pretty good move for the Rays. It's something I wouldn't seeing the Reds do with Jay Bruce after he spends a year or so in the majors.

Spending a year in the bigs is a little different story than 6 games. That said, this could end up being a steal in a few years.

dabvu2498

04-18-2008, 01:09 PM

Agreed. This is a pretty good move for the Rays. It's something I wouldn't seeing the Reds do with Jay Bruce after he spends a year or so in the majors.

That's kinda the point. Longoria's been up 6 days.

Sometimes the "can't miss" guys do miss.

RedlegJake

04-18-2008, 01:10 PM

Yep. I like it. The kid gets a big payday right now, years before he would otherwise. The team gets a chance to buy 2 years of his FA. The player will still be young enough to cash in again if he succeeds. The contract isn't so onerous that he's untradeable if he's healthy. For a really special talent like Longoria, or Bruce, heck yeah, makes a lot of sense for both sides.

OnBaseMachine

04-18-2008, 01:18 PM

That's kinda the point. Longoria's been up 6 days.

Sometimes the "can't miss" guys do miss.

I know, but I still like the move. I still wouldn't mind if the Reds locked Bruce up in the same situation, but it wouldn't hurt to wait a year either.

TOBTTReds

04-18-2008, 01:21 PM

I could see this causing some clubhouse issues. Kid who has achieved NOTHING gets a $17 mil contract when there are other vets on the team making $1 mil.

Chip R

04-18-2008, 01:23 PM

Not a bad idea even though it won't buy out any of his free agency years.

OnBaseMachine

04-18-2008, 01:29 PM

AP says it could be worth up to 44 million over nine years.

Longoria's deal with Rays could be worth up to $44 million

Associated Press

Updated: April 18, 2008, 1:13 PM ET

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Rookie third baseman Evan Longoria and the Tampa Bay Rays agreed Friday to a $17.5 million, six-year contract, a deal that could be worth up to $44 million over nine seasons.

Tampa Bay has a club option for 2014 and a second option that covers 2015 and 2016.

Taken third overall in the 2006 amateur draft, Longoria appeared in just six major league game before agreeing to the deal.

The 22-year-old was brought up from Triple-A Durham last Saturday and made his big league debut that day. Because he was not on the major league roster for the first 13 days of the season, Longoria's eligibility for free agency was pushed back an extra year until after the 2014 season.

The Rays have signed a number of their younger players to long-term deals, including right-hander James Shields, and outfielders Carl Crawford and Rocco Baldelli.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3353025

dabvu2498

04-18-2008, 01:33 PM

Rocco Baldelli... a perfect example of how these things can turn out badly for clubs that do them.

Patrick Bateman

04-18-2008, 01:36 PM

Those FA options could also be very valuable... Longoria could easily become a 15M+ calibre player down the line, Rays would be paying around 9M.

The potential savings for the DRays is huge.

RedlegJake

04-18-2008, 01:37 PM

Rocco Baldelli... a perfect example of how these things can turn out badly for clubs that do them.

I would never have put Baldelli in Longoria's class and the Bruce/Longoria types are the only ones that I'd offer a deal to that early. If a club goes for these contracts this early it has to be for the cream of the cream type players. Baldelli never fit that mold, for me anyway.

Cyclone792

04-18-2008, 01:42 PM

It's a type of deal I'd be pretty interested in doing if it's the right player, and Longoria's a player who would fit that criteria. Bruce would be another guy who could fit that criteria too.

Moderate risk, High reward ... with the amount of money teams blow on below average players and/or players who end up on the DL for significant time, a $17 mil committment isn't extremely risky.

OnBaseMachine

04-18-2008, 01:44 PM

I would never have put Baldelli in Longoria's class and the Bruce/Longoria types are the only ones that I'd offer a deal to that early. If a club goes for these contracts this early it has to be for the cream of the cream type players. Baldelli never fit that mold, for me anyway.

Agreed.

Rocco Baldelli was always overrated by nearly everyone. Check out his minor league statline: .280/.328/.433 - .761. I never understood why folks were so enamored with him.

Post number 14,000 btw.

BRM

04-18-2008, 01:48 PM

Post number 14,000 btw.

:party:
:beerme:

Chip R

04-18-2008, 02:00 PM

Rocco Baldelli... a perfect example of how these things can turn out badly for clubs that do them.

Perhaps, but life is full of risks. Let's say Longoria doesn't end up putting up the numbers everyone predicts he will. He's easily tradeable since he's not making a lot of money. If he's league average and making under $3M a year, someone may want to trade for him so they can "fix" him. Get him in the right ballpark and you have a bargain.

Bill Veeck had an idea similar to this in one of his books. He mentioned how the old Hollywood studio system would sign a young actor starting out to a 6-7 year deal at a low, low price. They could loan them out to other studios but the actors couldn't go anywhere until their contract was up. Veeck suggested something similar where teams lock up their young players to those kind of deals. I can't recall if he wrote this before or after salary arbitration started but it's something to be considered.

PuffyPig

04-18-2008, 02:28 PM

These type of deals can be very good for both the players and the teams.

The player is guaranteeing himself financial security for thr est of his life, even if he suffers a career ending injury or simply sucks.

The teams is guaranteed to save millions of dollars if the player sproduced at all, as expected.

Why would the player do it?

Becasue financial secuirty is worth it.

I's like buying insurance. You don't expect to have your house burn down, but it's sure nice to have insurance if it does.

The player might be giving up$10-20M down the road, but financial secuirty worth it, especially when it's 6 years before he could otherwise get it.

And if he becomes a star, he will get his financial payday later on.

RedsManRick

04-18-2008, 02:34 PM

Longoria has the sort of skill profile that projects to a 10M/year payout by his 2nd year of arbitration. The real value to the Rays here though isn't the per annum during arbitration, it's the team options on his FA years.

Money aside, simply having the option is huge. Take the Reds for example; even if they were willing to spend the same money as somebody else, the player very well might not be interested in coming here unless we blow them out of the water.

I just wonder what trade provisions are built in.

*BaseClogger*

04-18-2008, 03:19 PM

This seems like a continuation of a recent trend. Any chance we see a restructuring of the current arb system?

Caveat Emperor

04-18-2008, 03:35 PM

With the way the US Economy is going, I'd have insisted the contract pay in Euros if I was Longoria.

KronoRed

04-19-2008, 02:00 PM

This seems like a continuation of a recent trend. Any chance we see a restructuring of the current arb system?

Players love it and they run the show so I doubt it changes much

OnBaseMachine

05-14-2008, 11:45 PM

Rays signed Kazmir today...

BREAKING: Kazmir Signs

by Will Carroll

Sources have confirmed that Scott Kazmir will sign a long term deal with the Tampa Bay Rays. Terms have not been disclosed. The team will announce the deal this evening.

Update: Terms are 3 years, $28.5m guaranteed with a team option for 2012 at $11m.